Clothes hanger with added retaining means



Nov. 12, 1957 D. E. MANOSKY 1 ,8

CLQTHES HANGER WITH ADDED RETAINING MEANS Filed Nov. 1, 1956- 26 Dorothy E. Manosky INVENTOR. Fig 3 /2 @p mm United States Patent CLOTHES HANGER WITH ADDED RETAINING .MEANS Dorothy E. Manosky, Bruce, Wis. Application November 1, 1956, SerialNo. 619,761

3 Claims. ((11. 223-88) This invention relates to 'agarment hanger which is structurally and functionally improved in that it is equipped with 'novelmeans, not found, it is believed, on prior art hangers, which means makes -itjpossible to satisfactorily and fre'liably hang any garment or article of apparel which .is customarily hung from its shoulder portions withoutresortingto the use of pins, clamps, tapes and said wire hanger frame and .whichtransform the latter into a moreuseful adaptation, whereby its functions to iretainiand suspend s'c'o'op or wide-neck dresses (with or without sleeves), sleeveless waists and blouses, and any and all articles of apparelhaving shoulder straps or halterlike straps or the like.

Another object of the invention is to structurally, functionally and otherwise improve upon prior art hangers in the category of invention under consideration and which purport to olfer adaptations having analogous facilities. To this end, a construction is herein offered which it is submitted, will appeal to manufacturers and will comply with their manufacturing requirements and economies and will also meet the needs of users thereof.

Other objects, features and advantages will become more readily apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing, wherein like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the views:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the improved hanger;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view on an enlarged scale detailing one of the clips as they are sometimes called; and

Fig. 3 is a cross section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Briefly, and by way of casual reference to the views above described the invention comprises a garment hanger embodying a suspension hook adapted to be hung from a supporting pole or the like, a pair of outwardly and downwardly inclined garment hanging and suspending members, and upstanding retainers carried by the outer end portions of said members and adapted to accommodatingly hold scoop or wide-neck dresses with or without sleeves, sleeveless waists and blouses, and articles of apparel having shoulder straps or halter-type straps, as the case may be, said retainers serving to limit and prevent endwise slippage and displacement of the stated or similar articles from said inclined garment hanging members.

Referring now to the drawings with the aid of reference numerals the garment hanger proper is denoted by when weight is imposed thereon. flexible and resilient properties of the tongue and hinge serve to impart a snap action, whereby the tongue norjandobviously provides the desired stop or retainer. will'be noticed too that the sleeve has a lengthwise slit 2,812,889 Patented Nov. 12, 1957 the numeral 4. Although the hanger may be of some other construction than shown, it is preferably the aforementioned wire-type hanger which is characterized by a generally triangular wire frame which includes a centralized shank 6 having a hook 8 at its upper end with a triangular frame carried by the shank and including outwardly and downwardly inclined frame members 10 and. a horizontal truss-like brace member 12.

lncarrying out a preferred embodiment of the invention plastic or equivalent clips 14 are employed. These clips are sometimes also referred to as readily applicable and removable attachments. Each clip is characterized by two components; namely, an adapter sleeve 16 and a retainer which takes the form of a flap-like tongue 18.

The sleeve is sufficiently long that it provides an end portion 20 which fits over and is retained on the end ,portion of the frame member 12.

It also includes an opposite end portion 22 which conformingly fits upon the bent junctional end between the frame members 10 and 12. As already pointed out the last-named portion terminates in the flap-like tongue or retainer 18. It will benoticed that the junctional portion 24 provides a selfsustaining hinge. Therefore the tongue may bend inwardly and downwardly to rest upon the member 10 However, the inherent nially assumes an erect or substantially vertical position It 26 formed therein which opens through the end 28 and has its opposite end closed as at 36 (Fig. l) and here too the inherent retentive properties of the plastic from which the sleeve is made serve to permit the sleeve to be snapped in place and securely held. The manner in which the sleeve is attached or applied is obvious. This is an important phase of the invention because many attachments which are marketed are not usually selfevident as to mode of attachment and use. Here it is believed that the simple construction is substantially foolproof. Because of the manner in which the sleeve portion 22 curves around the cooperating portion of the hanger the clip" will remain securely in the position illustrated in the drawings.

My invention will transform a wire hanger so that it will not only hang garments with shoulder straps, sleeveless, scoop or wide-necked garments but also scoop or wide-necked garments with sleeves without resorting to pins, clamps or tapes.

To solve the problem of hanging the popular wide and scoop-necked dresses the manufacturers have had loops of tape sewed in the underseam of each shoulder of a garment. These tape loops are long enough to go around the suspension hook of the hanger and these tapes do prevent the garment from falling off the hangers. These tapes add material and labor cost to the finished garments so they have not sewn them into the cheaper more popularly pn'ced wide-neck dresses purchased by the majority of members of the public.

However, the shoulder tapes have not appealed to most women. The tapes creep out from under the garment and hang on the shoulder or neckline and detract from a neat appearance. The majority of purchasers of garments with tapes for hanging, remove these tapes.

It will be clear too that the flexibly resilient properties of the tongue cause it to stand up in the position shown. On the other hand, when one desires to hang top coats, overcoats, suit coats and many other comparatively heavy garments, it will be evident that the weight of the garment itself will cause the tongue to bend inwardly and downwardly so that it will reside or rest on the frame member 10. It follows that this unique attachment lends itself to use so that the hanger 4 may be employed as is customarily done and virtually without interference from the tongue 18. What is important, however, is that the tongue is there and in readiness to perform the duty which has been assigned thereto in the manner and for the purposes already covered.

Since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. In combination, a triangular-type wire garment hanger embodying a suspension hook adapted to be hung from a supporting pole or the like, a pair of outwardly and downwardly inclined garment hanging and suspending members, and upstanding retainers carried'by the outer end portions of said members and adapted to accommodatingly hold scoop or wide-neck dresses with or without sleeves, sleeveless waists and blouses, and articles of apparel having shoulder straps or halter-type straps, said retainers serving to limit and prevent endwise slippage and displacement of the stated articles from said inclined garment hanging members, each retainer comprising an attaching and retaining sleeve provided at one end with a lateral upstanding flap-like flexibly resilient tongue, the resilient properties of said tongue allowing it to bend inwardly and fold downwardly in a manner to rest atop an adjacent hanger member when relatively heavy garments such as suit coats, top coats, overcoats and the like are hung on said hanger, whereby not to.

interfere with the usual manner of suspension and sup- 'port.

and adapter means whereby the tongue'may be attached to the usual rounded end portion of the wire frame of said hanger in a manner to permit said tongue to assume a normally erect upstanding garment retaining and holding position, said adapter means comprising an elongated elastic sleeve, said tongue being located at one end of the sleeve and the junctional portion between said tongue and sleeve being flexibly resilient and constituting a hinge, whereby the tongue may stand up erect normally but is capable of being flexed and folded in and down to assume an out-of-the-way position when it is not needed.

3. An attachment for a conventional-type wire garrnent hanger of triangular form, said attachment being applicable to one end of the triangular frame portion and when in use serving to cooperate with the curved end and adjacent end portions of the horizontal brace and diverging frame member and comprising an elongated elastic sleeve which is conformable to portions of the frame on which it is designed to be applied and fitted in place, said sleeve being of prescribed length to serve its intended attachment and retention purposes and having a longitudinal slit opening through one end and terminating short of the other end, the last-named end portion of the sleeve being flattened and formed into a flap-like garment folding tongue, that portion of the sleeve between the tongue and sleeve proper being flexibly resilient and constituting a hinge so that when the attachment is in place the tongue may stand up and yet is capable of being flexed and folded down to assume an out-of-theway position when it is not in use.

, References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,484,534 Rauch et a1 Feb. 19, 1924 1,501,468 Ranch July 15, 1924 1,593,285 Batts July 20, 1926 2,386,059 Potoczky Oct. 2, 1945 

